Dr. Jordan Peterson: How to Best Guide Your Life Decisions & Path

In this episode of the Huberman Lab Podcast, Andrew Huberman hosts Dr. Jordan Peterson, a psychologist and influential public intellectual, to explore the complexities of human psychology, neuroscience, and personality types. They discuss how different brain circuits, like the hypothalamus and prefrontal cortex, influence our states of mind, emotions, and behaviors, leading us to adopt various personalities. The conversation delves into the relationship between the "Call to Adventure" and responsibility, emphasizing the use of stories, particularly biblical ones, to guide actions toward positive outcomes. They also touch on societal issues like media, politics, cancel culture, and shifting gender roles, highlighting the human drive to create impact across time and space. Dr. Peterson underscores the importance of integrating philosophical, psychological, and neuroscientific insights to enhance decision-making and personal growth.

• Discussion of the human being at the level of psychology, neuroscience, and expression of different personality types.
• Exploration of how specific brain circuitries like the hypothalamus and prefrontal cortex influence states of mind, emotions, thoughts, and actions.
• Examination of the concept that humans can adopt different personalities based on their mental states.

"Most of us don't think about having different personalities; however, as we discuss today, due to the activity of specific brain circuitries... we each and all can adopt different states of mind that powerfully influence our emotions, our thoughts, and our actions."

• The quote highlights the central theme of the discussion, which is the variability of human personality based on neurological states.

• Discussion of the relationship between adventure and responsibility as a framework for decision-making and personal development.
• Emphasis on the use of stories, particularly biblical stories, to guide actions towards positive outcomes.

"Indeed, he discusses the tight relationship between the Call to Adventure and responsibility as a trustable framework from moving forward in life towards One's best possible outcomes."

• This quote underscores the importance of balancing adventure with responsibility in personal growth and decision-making.

• Introduction to the brain as a complex system with autonomic physiology, impulses, and executive functions.
• Discussion on the concept of impulse and its implications in human behavior and psychology.

"I view the brain as obviously a bunch of cells and parts etc., but I distill it down to some basic features... we have an autonomic physiology... we have a lot of circuitry devoted to what I would call impulses."

• The quote provides a foundational understanding of the brain's structure and function relevant to the discussion.

• Exploration of the concept of impulse and the potential drawbacks of characterizing behaviors as mere impulses.
• Discussion on the inhibition model and its limitations, with a focus on integration as a more sophisticated approach.

"We should talk about the idea of impulse in relationship to that characterization... you pay a price for characterizing that as impulse, and I'd like to explore that with you because it's crucial."

• This quote introduces the critical examination of the impulse concept and the need for a more nuanced understanding.

• Comparison between Freud's inhibitory model and Piaget's integration model of personality development.
• Emphasis on integrating lower-order motivational states into a sustainable voluntary structure.

"Integration is a better... a very sophisticated athlete, a team athlete in particular isn't not aggressive and they're not inhibiting their aggression on the playing field... they've done is subordinate their aggression to a higher order goal."

• The quote illustrates the concept of integration as a more effective approach than mere inhibition.

• Conceptualization of motivational states as subpersonalities rather than simple impulses or drives.
• Discussion on the role of these subpersonalities in shaping behavior and perception.

"It's much better to think of a motivated state... as personalities. They're subpersonalities; they have their perceptions, they have their objects of perception, they have their cognitive rationalizations."

• The quote provides a deeper understanding of the complexity and role of motivational states in human psychology.

• Discussion on the process of socialization as the integration of lower-order motivational states into a coherent personality.
• Exploration of the role of socialization in regulating behavior and promoting successful interpersonal relationships.

"The issue is integration... what you're doing when you're socializing... is reinforcing the cortical integration of those underlying motivational states."

• This quote emphasizes the importance of socialization in developing a well-integrated personality.

• Examination of the cortex's role in expanding the apprehension of motivational systems across broader spans of time and social contexts.
• Discussion on the hierarchical integration of motivational states within an overarching personality.

"The cortex comes in as far as I'm concerned... their ways of expanding the apprehension of those fundamental motivational systems across broader and broader spans of time."

• The quote highlights the cortex's critical role in integrating motivational states for a more sophisticated personality.

• Exploration of the evolution of polytheistic belief systems into monotheistic ones and their parallels with personality maturation.
• Discussion on the representation of motivational states as deities in religious thinking.

"The polytheistic Gods tend to be representations of motivational states... the greatest historian of religions... documented the pattern by which polytheistic belief systems turned into monotheistic belief systems."

• This quote connects the development of religious thinking with the integration of motivational states into a unified personality.

• Examination of addiction as a manifestation of a dominant subpersonality driven by repeated dopaminergic reinforcement.
• Discussion on the role of incentive restructuring in addiction treatment, particularly through religious transformation.

"In addiction... you hit that circuit that's seeking the drug with repeated doses of dopamine... it's a whole personality."

• The quote highlights the complexity of addiction as a personality issue and the potential for religious transformation as a treatment.

• Discussion on pornography as a super stimulus that exploits the brain's visual and reward systems.
• Exploration of the compulsive nature of pornography consumption and its impact on personality.

"It's a super stimulus, right, and it's not surprising that young males in particular are susceptible to that because male sexuality in human beings is very visually oriented."

• This quote explains the concept of pornography as a super stimulus and its effects on behavior and personality.

• The discussion begins with the role of diet in understanding satiation, emphasizing the importance of clean eating and how it helps in learning the relationship between taste, caloric content, and satiation.
• It is argued that highly processed foods disrupt the brain's ability to learn these associations due to their complex mixtures.

"One thing that is absolutely clear from following a clean diet is that you very soon learn the relationship between taste of the food, volume of the food, macronutrient content, micronutrients, and satiation."

• Clean diets help the brain and hypothalamus learn associations between taste, caloric content, and satiation, unlike processed foods.

"In the context of these processed foods, they're activating multiple neuron systems in the hypothalamus and gut."

• Processed foods activate multiple neuron systems, complicating the brain's ability to learn satiation.

• The gut contains neurons that respond to sugar, fatty acids, and amino acids, signaling to the brain about nutrient content.
• The brain's dopaminergic centers are activated when consuming foods with high essential amino acid content, like steak.

"The gut has neurons that signal through the Vegas up through a little relay called the noo gangling and then up to the dopaminergic centers of the brain."

• Neurons in the gut communicate with the brain's dopaminergic centers, influencing eating behavior based on nutrient content.

• Processed foods often lack essential nutrients, leading to continued eating until the body gets what it needs.
• The discussion draws an analogy between processed foods and pornography, suggesting both disrupt natural satiation and satisfaction mechanisms.

"If you take a food that is low in a micronutrient or macronutrient or essential amino acids or essential fatty acids, it will keep you eating."

• Foods low in essential nutrients lead to continued eating, disrupting natural satiation mechanisms.

• Dopamine spikes from processed foods, pornography, and drugs hijack natural reward circuits.
• Novelty and repetitive striving optimize dopaminergic responses, but extreme stimuli can diminish satisfaction over time.

"Highly processed foods, pornography, any drug that spikes dopamine dramatically like methamphetamine, hijacks these circuits."

• Dopamine spikes from extreme stimuli hijack natural reward circuits, diminishing satisfaction.

• Novelty plays a significant role in the dopaminergic system, driving behavior and potentially leading to fetishistic tendencies in pornography consumption.
• The discussion highlights the danger of extreme novelty in diminishing satisfaction and increasing addiction.

"With any novelty, there's also a dopaminergic kick, so there's an optimized threshold for novelty and repetitive striving."

• Novelty provides a dopaminergic kick, but extreme novelty can lead to addiction and diminished satisfaction.

• The discussion explores how pornography affects the ability to form real sexual relationships, especially in young men.
• It suggests that pornography sets unrealistic expectations and teaches voyeuristic behavior, impacting real-life interactions.

"If you've been socialized into pornography sexuality, it's quite difficult to establish a sexual relationship with an actual partner."

• Pornography socialization makes forming real sexual relationships difficult by setting unrealistic expectations.

• The idea of action at a distance is explored, with examples ranging from rocket launches to social media and pornography.
• The discussion suggests that many modern technologies and behaviors lack the impactful action at a distance that is evolutionarily rewarding.

"Most technologies are about that. In fact, if you think about social media, somebody tweets something, and people react to it."

• Modern technologies and behaviors often lack impactful action at a distance, which is evolutionarily rewarding.

• The discussion delves into the biblical story of Abraham, highlighting the call to adventure as a divine impulse to venture beyond comfort zones.
• This call is associated with long-term success and abundance for oneself and the community.

"God says to Abraham, you have to leave all this comfort, which is a very interesting proposition."

• The call to adventure is a divine impulse to venture beyond comfort, associated with long-term success.

• Meta ambitions are described as overarching goals that guide all other ambitions, providing a sense of purpose and direction.
• The divine is characterized as the ultimate meta ambition, guiding individuals toward long-term fulfillment and success.

"An ambition will seize you, and then you'll aim at fulfilling that ambition, but once the ambition is fulfilled, a new ambition makes itself manifest."

• Meta ambitions guide all other ambitions, providing purpose and direction, with the divine as the ultimate meta ambition.

• Sacrifice is emphasized as a crucial component in personal transformation and achieving long-term goals.
• The biblical story of Abraham is used to illustrate the importance of making sacrifices to follow the call to adventure.

"To be more than you are means you have to let go of that which you were; you have to make sacrifices."

• Sacrifice is crucial for personal transformation and achieving long-term goals, as illustrated by Abraham's story.

• The discussion highlights how a new orientation, such as religious conversion, can transform motivation and reward structures.
• This transformation can lead to overcoming addictions and achieving greater fulfillment in life.

"He uses very Christian religious language. He said that he felt Jesus's love for him and saw an image of who he could become."

• A new orientation can transform motivation and reward structures, leading to overcoming addictions and greater fulfillment.

• Sin is defined as missing the target, with the idea that humans are inherently target-seeking beings.
• The discussion explores how gaze and perception are used to establish targets and guide behavior.

"It's literally an archery term, but it's also the word for sin in ancient Hebrew, and it's really important to understand that notion."

• Sin is defined as missing the target, emphasizing humans as target-seeking beings using gaze and perception to guide behavior.

• The expansion of the frontal eye fields in humans is discussed, highlighting the importance of gaze in understanding and establishing targets.
• Gaze is used to infer aim and understand the psychophysiological state of others.

"Humans have a massive expansion of an area of the frontal cortex called the frontal eye fields."

• The frontal eye fields in humans highlight the importance of gaze in understanding and establishing targets, inferring aim and psychophysiological states.

• The discussion emphasizes the importance of long-term goals and how they align with psychological and social well-being.
• Long-term goals provide a framework for reducing entropy and achieving fulfillment.

"The more valuable the goal towards which you're progressing, the higher the dopamine kick per unit of advancement."

• Long-term goals align with psychological and social well-being, providing a framework for reducing entropy and achieving fulfillment.

• Instant gratification, such as that provided by drugs, pornography, and processed foods, is seen as dangerous because it bypasses natural reward mechanisms.
• The discussion warns against seeking rewards without corresponding effort.

"Any big inflection in dopamine that isn't preceded by a lot of effort to generate that dopamine inflection is very dangerous."

• Instant gratification is dangerous because it bypasses natural reward mechanisms, with a warning against seeking rewards without effort.

• Social rejection and learning from others are highlighted as important for personal growth and improvement.
• Avoiding social interactions, such as through pornography, leads to a lack of learning and personal development.

"If you're being rejected all the time and you forgo that for pornography, what you're foregoing is the corrective that all those women are offering you."

• Social rejection and learning from others are important for growth, with pornography leading to a lack of learning and development.

• The discussion begins with the implications of pornography and masturbation, emphasizing the detrimental effects on psychological integrity and societal stability.
• The conversation highlights the novelty-seeking behavior that leads to more extreme forms of pornography, which can twist sexual behavior into pathological forms.

"The only implication of the pornography masturbation scenario is that it is more pornography masturbation."

• The quote underscores the cyclical and escalating nature of pornography use, leading to a continuous search for novelty.

"A casual glance at online pornography can give you some real insight into where that ends."

• This statement warns about the bottomless pit of pornography, which can lead to degenerative behaviors.

• The conversation shifts to the symbolic representation of societal disintegration using the biblical narrative from Revelation.
• The Scarlet Beast and the Whore of Babylon are used as metaphors for the degeneration of the state and commodification of sexuality.

"Revelation is a vision of the end of time... the Scarlet Beast and the Whore of Babylon."

• This quote illustrates how societal disintegration is symbolized in Revelation, with distinct patterns for men and women.

"The degenerate state offers the Whore of Babylon as enticement for its degeneration."

• The quote highlights how commodified sexuality is used as an enticement by a degenerate state, leading to long-term societal consequences.

• The conversation critiques the sexual revolution and the promise of effortless gratification, which ultimately leads to the demise of sexuality itself.
• The discussion touches on the decline in birth rates and the increasing number of childless women as indicators of this societal shift.

"The promise of the sexual revolution and the pill was an unlimited horizon of sexual opportunity."

• This quote reflects on the initial promise of sexual liberation, which paradoxically led to a decline in genuine sexual fulfillment.

"Effortless gratification destroys itself."

• The statement emphasizes that the pursuit of effortless pleasure ultimately undermines its own sustainability.

• The discussion explores the relationship between responsibility and adventure, asserting that they are essentially the same thing.
• The idea is presented that true adventure is found in the voluntary adoption of responsibility, particularly for young men.

"There's no difference between responsibility and adventure; they're the same thing."

• This quote posits that embracing responsibility is a form of adventure, offering fulfillment and growth.

"You find adventure in the voluntary adoption of responsibility."

• The statement encourages seeking adventure through taking on responsibilities, suggesting it leads to personal and societal benefits.

• The conversation delves into the importance of sacrifice at the core of community, using the architectural structure of European towns as a metaphor.
• The discussion highlights how responsible sacrifice integrates individuals psychologically and societies productively.

"Responsible sacrifice is at the core of the community."

• The quote underscores the central role of sacrifice in maintaining the integrity and productivity of communities.

"Community is a sacrificial gesture."

• This statement emphasizes that communities thrive through the sacrifices made by individuals for the greater good.

• The conversation touches on the symbolic and literal degeneration of city centers, using San Francisco as an example.
• The discussion relates the physical decline of city centers to broader societal and cultural disintegration.

"The center does not hold... mere chaos is set upon the world."

• This quote reflects on the symbolic significance of deteriorating city centers as indicators of societal chaos.

"What has caused the degeneration of the center?"

• The statement raises the question of the underlying causes of urban and societal decay, linking it to broader cultural issues.

• The conversation addresses the role of truth in scientific inquiry, emphasizing the need for a strong motivational framework.
• The discussion critiques the careerist approach in science, advocating for a focus on truth and the pursuit of novel problems.

"Science is the handmaiden of some story."

• This quote highlights the inextricable link between scientific inquiry and the underlying narratives that drive it.

"Truth is an adventure because you have to let go of the predictability of the outcome."

• The statement emphasizes the adventurous nature of pursuing truth, which requires openness to uncertainty and change.

• The conversation explores practical ways to find purpose, suggesting that it begins with addressing personal chaos and taking responsibility.
• The discussion encourages individuals to start with small, manageable tasks to gradually bring order to their lives.

"Is there something around here that I could fix that I would fix?"

• This quote offers a practical approach to finding purpose by identifying and addressing immediate problems in one's environment.

"The more mess around you, the more unstructured possibility you have at hand."

• The statement suggests that chaos presents opportunities for growth and improvement, encouraging proactive engagement with disorder.

• Emphasizes the need for sunlight exposure to regulate sleep and mental health.
• Lack of sunlight can lead to sleep issues and mental health problems.
• Tools exist to manage stress and circadian biology through deliberate practices.

"Not a single thing out there about hey folks if you're going to be indoors this much get some sunlight in your eyes in the morning or else you're going to have trouble sleeping."

• Highlights the critical role of sunlight in maintaining healthy sleep patterns and mental health.

• The speaker's lab focuses on stress regulation through breathing and other methods.
• Aim to provide zero-cost tools to help people manage stress and circadian rhythms.
• The disruption of social order during the pandemic increased the need for such tools.

"My lab was working on ways to regulate stress through deliberate breathing through other mechanisms."

• Indicates the lab's focus on developing tools to help people manage stress effectively.

• The speaker felt a calling to share neuroscience knowledge due to its potential to help others.
• Conscience is described as the voice of the Divine, guiding actions and decisions.
• The notion of conscience as divine is revolutionary and significant.

"The calling was from hearing about people suffering it's like well of course you're not sleeping well."

• Describes the speaker's motivation to share knowledge as a response to widespread suffering and need.

• Prayer is seen as a means to establish aim and clarity of mind.
• It allows for listening and receiving messages that may not be immediately apparent.
• Prayer is differentiated from meditation and other practices as it involves external guidance.

"Prayer to me is entirely different than all of those... it's the allowing of something from truly outside me to come through me."

• Highlights the unique role of prayer in accessing external guidance and enhancing personal capabilities.

• Thought is considered a secularized form of prayer, emerging from historical practices.
• The speaker suggests a formal relationship between thought and prayer.
• Setting an aim in thought can lead to revelations and new ideas.

"Thought has its historical Origins the probability that it emerged from something like prayer as far as I can tell is 100%."

• Proposes that thought and prayer are interconnected, with thought being an evolved form of prayer.

• The speaker argues that belief in God is essential for understanding and managing the human brain.
• Historical evidence supports the long-standing role of God in human societies.
• Different religions converge on similar themes at a psychological and neuroscientific level.

"I just don't think that the human brain and mind is capable of understanding and managing itself as well as it possibly could in the absence of a concept of God in prayer."

• Asserts the importance of a concept of God for comprehensive understanding of the human mind.

• Different religions converge on similar psychological and neuroscientific themes.
• The speaker is still exploring formal prayer and religious teachings.
• Acknowledges the overlap of themes across religions and even atheism.

"It seems to me that they all converge on the same themes but I'm not... I'm somewhat of a newbie to all to formal prayer and and to reading the Bible."

• Recognizes the convergence of core themes across various religious and philosophical beliefs.

• Attention is seen as the antidote to pathological states.
• Ancient Egyptian theology emphasized the importance of attention through the god Horus.
• Attention is a quest for knowledge and understanding.

"The ancient Egyptians worshiped attention and they felt that the god of attention was the antidote to the pathological State."

• Emphasizes the power of attention as a means to overcome negative states and achieve clarity.

• Play is the antithesis of tyranny and essential for social organization.
• Research on animals shows that play is crucial for social hierarchy and interaction.
• Playfulness is important in discourse and establishing social hierarchies.

"Rats organized their social hierarchy through play not through Force right that's a big Discovery."

• Highlights the significance of play in social interactions and the establishment of order.

• Alternative media, such as podcasts, provide platforms for playful and meaningful discourse.
• Comedians and playful figures have become influential in shaping public opinion.
• The spirit of playful adventure is seen as a positive force in media.

"There's a lot of play in the alternative media and a lot of young people are being informed by the alternative media."

• Suggests that alternative media fosters a playful and open environment for discussion and learning.

• A strong opposition is necessary to prevent the corruption of power.
• The speaker expresses hope for a revitalized Democratic party to counterbalance the Republicans.
• Effective opposition ensures that power is checked and balanced.

"Every Administration needs an opposition and if the Democrats continue with this woke idiocy they're not going to be able to serve as the proper corrective."

• Emphasizes the importance of having a credible and effective political opposition for balanced governance.

• Engaging with the public through tours and lectures is rewarding and impactful.
• Personal growth involves embracing fear and uncertainty in new ventures.
• The speaker values curiosity and exploration as driving forces in their work.

"My life is ridiculously it's absurdly interesting it's crazily and absurdly interesting all the time."

• Reflects on the rewards and personal growth that come from engaging with the public and embracing new challenges.